Persuasive Essay On Equines In America

At a horse race, all eyes are on the leading horse. Betting race fans watch the fastest horses closely so they can place money on who they believe will be a champion. What some viewers do not pay attention to are the horses who leave the box late and gallop behind the pack to the finish line. Because there is not a lot of excitement about these slower horses, some people do not pay attention to what happens to them behind the scenes. After one or two low placings, they prove that they are not fast enough for the track. Without given chances in other disciplines, many of these still young and healthy horses are auctioned off (U.S. Newswire). These horses make up the majority of the slaughtered equines in North America. In 2006, 140,000 unwanted American horses

The 2007 ban has hardly decreased the number of American equines being slaughtered, and the alternative process now used is much worse. In 2010, 138,000 American horses were exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter, which is 148 percent and 660 percent higher than in 2006, respectively (GAO 16). This is nearly the same number that were slaughtered in the U.S. before the ban, and the process used is far more abusive than before. After being auctioned off, the animals are crammed into trailers where they have little to no room to move around, and are vulnerable to abusive handling and neglect. They are then trailered across the border to foreign slaughterhouses, which takes 43 hours on average. Because of the high risk of the horses escaping, the trailers cannot be opened to give them food or water during their journey. When trailers cross the border, American laws no longer have authority over the animals inside, so their welfare is not protected. As the United States Government Accountability Office stated in a 2011